A Burger celebrates grand opening

By DOUGLAS W. MOTLEY

Senior Writer

 

Ever since Crestline’s fabled A Burger Restaurant at the corner of Lake Drive and Forest Shade Road closed down about a decade ago due to the failing health of its previous owner, Elizabeth (“Liz”) Tulcan, scores of faithful customers have been wishing and hoping it would reopen.

The faithful will be pleased to learn that the former A&W Restaurant celebrated its grand reopening at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14, to the cheers of dozens of old and new customers waiting in line to order the establishment’s delicious cheeseburgers, French fries and their iconic root beer shake, made fresh, on-site, and served in a frosty mug.

Following seemingly endless months of acquiring building permits from the San Bernardino County Planning Commission, the new owner, Doug Barbee, who has over 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry, told the Alpine Mountaineer that A Burger would be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“We may be open later, depending on how late the Bear House Bar is open next door,” Barbee said, adding that his past restaurant experience includes managerial duties at both Red Robin and BJ’s restaurants.

When asked if it was difficult finding persons skilled and qualified to operate a privately owned restaurant, Barbee said he had recently interviewed 17 persons doing just that, but that he had lowered the number to 13 persons, six of whom would be working at any given time.

In addition to seven varieties of burgers to choose from – including The A Burger, Double AA Burger, Bacon Cheeseburger, Western Burger, Crispy Chicken Burger, Chili Burger and Breakfast Burger – Doug, with assistance from his wife, Lisa, has updated the menu to include a Pastrami Burger and Pastrami Sandwich.

Sides include crispy house fries, onion rings, chili cheese fries and bowl of chili. Drinks include a wide selection of 24-ounce soft drinks, 24-ounce lemonade and 16-ounce root beer, vanilla and chocolate shakes.

Liz, who ran the business, mostly by herself, for 37 years, reportedly passed away on July 31, 2024. She was from the “Old Country,” which sometimes made it difficult for customers to understand her Romanian accent. Liz was an opinionated, but astute, business owner who only accepted cash for payment and was always willing to share her opinion on local and international political matters. Some say Liz had a “salty” sense of humor. This is not to say she wasn’t generous, since she was known to occasionally cut some slack for a customer who came up short on cash.

Before it was called A Burger, Liz’ business was an A&W Root Beer Stand, one of over 70 throughout the U.S. The first A&W roadside stand was opened in Lodi, Calif., in 1919 by Roy W. Allen and Frank Wright, hence the name A&W.  By 2011, the company had expanded its root beer stands to 570 restaurants nationwide and 900 worldwide. By August 2024, it had become America’s oldest franchised restaurant chain.

A more recent history of the A Burger, based on county records, indicates that the building was constructed in 1958, at which time it was branded A&W. According to local historian Russ Keller, the existing A&W was bought by Ted Liebmann in June  1965. In 1975, a series of zany movie trailers, one of which was titled Skateboarders from Hell, was filmed at Crestline’s A&W Root Beer Stand. In the early 1980s, the franchise contract with A&W ended and Liebmann chose not to renew his association with A&W; he subsequently removed the W and renamed the business The A.

Following Liebman’s death in December 1982, a young female employee of The A named Liz took over the operation of the business and she and her husband, Aurel,  purchased the business from the Liebmann estate. Health issues forced Liz to retire in 2019, after which her daughters leased the business in 2020 and ended up leasing the property to Doug and Lisa Barbee in 2022.